(Reuters) -Ukraine was prepared to engage in negotiations to end its nearly three-year-old war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, but he stressed that the United States and Europe also had to take part in any talks.
Zelenskiy, who had long called for all Russian troops to leave Ukraine as a pre-condition, has in recent weeks spoken of the need for talks on moving the conflict to a “just” end.
The Kremlin, whose forces have made gains for months on their push through eastern Ukraine, said this week it was too early to consider four-way talks. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov again pointed to Zelenskiy as an “illegitimate” leader because he had remained in power beyond the time of his mandate.
“If people believe we must move to the diplomatic track, and I believe we are ready to move to the diplomatic track, there must be the U.S., Europe, Ukraine and Russia,” he told British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview broadcast on Morgan’s YouTube channel.
He said that if sitting opposite Putin at the negotiating table “was the only set up in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine…definitely we will go for this setup, for a meeting with these four participants.”
ELECTIONS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly dismissed Zelenskiy as a participant in any talks, saying he had failed to submit to elections when his term in office ended in May 2024.
Ukraine has said no election is legally possible while martial law remains in force. In the interview, Zelenskiy rejected the Kremlin’s argument, saying he was elected in 2019 with 73 % of the vote.
“I have always been open to elections. But during a war, elections require constitutional changes and serious legal adjustment,” he said.
“The key issue isn’t just legal – it’s human. How will soldiers in trenches vote? What about millions of Ukrainians in occupied territories. Do their voices no longer matter? And what about eight million Ukrainians forced abroad by war?”
U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested Washington and Moscow had already been in touch about Ukraine, but a top Russian diplomat said direct contacts were not yet underway.
But Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, raised the election issue last week, telling Reuters that Washington wanted Ukraine to hold a poll potentially by the end of the year, especially if Kyiv can agree to a truce with Russia.
In his interview comments, Zelenskiy called for no letup in sanctions pressure on Russia, saying any respite would increase the risk of a second invasion.
Zelenskiy also provided rare casualty estimates for both sides in nearly three years of conflict.
He put Ukrainian casualties at 45,100, with the number of injured at 390,000. Zelenskiy estimated Russian losses at 350,000 dead and between 600,000 and 700,000 injured, with “many” Russian forces missing in action.
He also restated his contention that Ukraine needed security guarantees to guard against future Russian actions. If Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership – rejected out of hand by Russia – took an extended period of time, what form of support was Ukraine to receive, he asked.
“What will be defending us against this evil for this whole time?” he said.
“What support package? Which missiles? Will we be given nuclear weapons? Then let them give us nuclear weapons. Will they give us the missiles in the quantities to stop Russia? I’m not sure of that.”
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lincoln Feast.)